Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Previously only available trough cassettes (79 copies produced to be exact), this third EM album (and last if you do not count the Radio Noisz Ensemble, which is the logic continuation of this venture), the superb Garden Of Delight label reissued this album very recently for our pure enjoyment. And enjoyment it is, because this lengthy (68 mins + 3 bonus tracks for 81 mins) live recording is of excellent sound quality and there are much "new" material that weren't present on the two studio albums, but rehearsed live for a possible third studio album, which would never come. Sporting a colourized version of the cassette photo as artwork, corrected running times, some group pictures, the GOD release is the usual excellent product that gives progheads so many joys over the years.

Some of the previously heard songs are in fairly different versions here, often with less vocals or presented in a different light. The superb RAA and Regenreigen Suite are both presented with excellent live alternatives. The last three songs on the original cassette were foreseen for the third album (as would the last two bonus tracks), thus giving you an idea that this third album would've at least as good as their debut and approach the second's outstanding relevance.

Of the three bonus tracks, the jig of Narrentanz is the least interesting (and already present in the first studio album), but Schäfer Von Rotterdam and Alina are superb medieval-sounding tracks that we're all used to hearing. More added value for a Live album which turns out to be just as essential as the studio ones.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Despite strong differences in their musical style, these groups are often mentioned together because Kaleidon came out from the ashes of the promising Free Love after two of these band's members died in a car accident. One of the surviving members, Stefano Sabatini, formed the new group that dedicated their only album in 1973 to the old band.

Born at the end of the 60's in Rome, Free Love only released two good rock singles in their short career, one of which was used as soundtrack to a spaghetti-western film. The original line-up featured the US-born brothers Carl and Steve Stogel, Gianni Caia and a singer whose name was Tony, and it recorded both the band's singles, being pictured on their covers. Later, towards the end of 1969, the group was joined by Canadian violinist John Picard and, for a short time, singer/percussionist Ricky Cellini. The line-up became more stable in 1970 with new keyboardist Stefano Sabatini (after Tony and Cellini had left) and various concerts in Northern Italy, Switzerland and Sardinia. They seemed to have a very promising career ahead, as demonstrated by their participation in Rome's Caracalla Pop festivals in 1970 and 1971, but before the last of these two events had to suffer a line-up change when Sabatini left, replaced by Fabio Cammarota. A few months later Picard quit, moving to France.

This group broke up towards the end of the year and Caia and Steve Stogel, along with bass player Mauro Montaldo, reunited with Stefano Sabatini to tour as backing band of Mia Martini. It was in February 1972, while coming back from a concert in Sicily, that the musicians' van was involved in a road accident: two of them, Gianni Caia and Steve Stogel, died while the others, Stefano Sabatini and Mauro Montaldo were severely injured.

A concert was held at Rome's Piper to commemorate the musicians and collect some money to support their families.

A new line-up with the namd Free Love was assembled in the summer, and this included Stefano Sabatini, Carl Stogel, drummer Giovanni Liberti and saxophonist Stefano Cesaroni, later replaced by Massimo Balla for the Caracalla-Wembley concert in Rome in Autumn 1972.

From this line-up, with newcomer bassist Franco Tallarita, derived the new group Kaleidon, whose only album in 1973 was in fact entitled Free love; totally instrumental, strongly veering toward jazz, it went unnoticed, with the band having a strong line-up change right after its release and splitting after the fourth edition of the "Festival d'Avanguardia e Nuove Tendenze" held in Rome in June 1974.

After leaving Kaleidon, bassist Franco Tallarita joined Ut. His replacement Gianni Colaiacomo later played with Banco del Mutuo Soccorso.

The last Kaleidon drummer, Francesco Froggio Francica, had previously played with Raccomandata con Ricevuta di Ritorno and shortly Procession.

Stefano Sabatini was involved in the short-lived Samadhi supergroup and later Mediterraneo (featuring some ex-Samadhi members), in 1978 he moved to Los Angeles where he played with many important jazz musicians, and after returning to Italy in 1982 he has had an intense activity in the jazz field, which lasts today.